[dmw]

“You cannot legislate moral values.”

We can and we do. What we can’t do is change people’s hearts. Only God can do that.

[Pistolshot]

And there is the rub. You can pass all the laws you like, but it takes the heart to follow. Needless to say, what some may consider 'moral' others may consider useless. This leads to a problem. Whose values do you use? If you go with the Christian far-right-wing God-fearing-you'll-be-damned-to-hell morals, you restrict freedoms to choose. Now there are all values we can agree on, murder, theft, burglary to name a few, that still happen in spite of the law.

Abortion is the one that gets everyone twisted up. Some want a Federal level amendment to prohibit abortion. But that is only one moral view. Some think the states, and ultimately, the people themselves should decide on abortion, not have it legislated from the judicial branch.

At the state level it can be corrected much more easily than at the Federal level. It's just the way things work. It's easier to modify a law at the state level than it is at the Federal all-encompassing level.

Now, we, as conservatives, oppse abortion, period. But we are not the voice of ALL the people and until that voice is heard at the ballot box, there can be no determination. OUR job is to coerce, cajole, and otherwise convince the opposition that the right way is to protect life.

But we can't force it on anyone.

[Greg F]

“You cannot legislate moral values.”
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We can and we do. What we can’t do is change people’s hearts. Only God can do that.
_______________________

I’ve never seen anyone respond with a basis other than moral values for legislating anything . . . and yet this “you can’t legislate moral values” is persistent, in every thread like this one. Sometimes a libertarian steps in and says legislation should be to protect freedom (which imposes his “moral value” in the preference for freedom).